Valentines weekend.

The little woman and I slept in last Saturday and then surprised one another with gifts. I had to dive for the floor at one point as I snuck into the bedroom with flowers and a big balloon. It looked like she was rollin' over and wakin' up. It was funny as hell. Made for a fun morning.

After that we drove down to Austin and had dinner at Pappasito's. It's a place we love, and consider a special treat. It was already crowded with valentines day revelers when we got there, so we had to sit outside under the space heaters for 45 minutes or so before we got a table.

When a table out there opened up we snagged it, and got started with the first rounds of drinks and chips-n-salsa. That's a Shiner Bock for me on the left and a Strawberry margarita on the right for Denise. She swears by their margaritas. Loves 'em.

When we got inside it was time for round two of everything, with the added pleasure of a bowl of their queso dip with the spicy ground beef added.

We both ordered enchiladas, and I got a side order of four Brochette Shrimp.

Denise ordered two chicken Enchiladas and I got the combination; one chicken and one beef.

Don't get me wrong. The enchiladas are wonderful, but it's always the shrimp I look forward to. They're split, stuffed with a wedge of bell pepper and cheese, wrapped in bacon and grilled. They pour this wonderful butter, garlic and white wine sauce over it when they grill it, and then give you more of the stuff to dip the shrimp in before you put it in your mouth. Mmmmmmm.

I know. I should just stop. Well hell, get down there and get yourself some!

OK, that was Saturday. After we left Pappasito's we went to Macy's for a bit, and then drove on to Fredericksburg. We had a reservation for Saturday night at the Sunday Inn, just up from the main strip there on the east side of town.

It turned out to be a bit old, but very comfortable and reasonably priced. And you can't beat the location for the price. You can easily walk to the Nimitz Museum and the rest of the strip from there.

The VERY first stop Sunday, after rollin' out of the hotel at noon, was the Auslander. Why, you may ask? Check out the beer selection there above. The lighting in these shots is a bit weird, the sun showing through the slats in the lattice over our heads. We were sitting out in the beergarten section.

Furthermore, check out the 34 oz. Paulaner Hefe Weizen I had for brunch! That's Denise's "Shandy" (Shiner Bock amixed with 7-Up) there on the left.

We kicked brunch off with and order of beer battered, deep fried 'shrooms. Denise loves the ranch dip but I prefer the honey mustard. I've found few things in my life so far that aren't improved with a dollop of the stuff. Few things!

There were a few younger couples sitting in the table next to us, so when my beer arrived it set off a little comotion. One of the guys said "Oh man, that's cheatin'," as if I'd gotten an unfair advantage on the days drinking.

In the end he ordered himself one, peer pressure being a beotch, and then had it half finished by the time I downed mine and we got up to go. His buddy looked up at me and said "Well he can walk!" I said something about how I loved to corrupt people, and we all laughed and parted company.

When the main feed began, Denise went for the Jaegerschnitzel burger. It's like chicken fried steak, if you've never gone there. Denise lived in Germany for many years and learned to love the stuff there.

I went for the Bacon Cheeseburger with all the works. It's so friggin' huge they have to bring it to you like this. You have to gently hoist the one half up and place it on the other, and then I cut the thing in half so it's a bit more manageable.

It's just delish!

After all that we walked up and down the strip, visiting stores and buying some of the local wine. I'd sit outside, smokin' a cigar while Denise went in to check out the stores. Usually she'd come back talkin' about how nice the stuff was, but how silly the prices were. She's a pretty sensible gal, that little lady of mine.

In an hour or so I was ready for dessert. We stopped at one of the local places there on the strip and I got one scoop of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough.

Denise went for the Butter Pecan. Mmmmmmm, good stuff.

One of the places we stopped was this little shop. "Bath Junkie" sells all sorts of bath items. Lotions and soaps and the like. I immediately fell for the little rubber duckie in the window.

I had to have the James Brown in the red jump suit! can you make him out there? Sixth from the left, front row. Denise thought I was nuts, but I begged like a fool and she went in and got it for me. She's SUCH a sweetie!

Now, the hardest workin' rubber duckie in show business has a place of honor on my desk at home. I couldn't be happier.

On the drive back north we headed by Enchanted Rock, and stopped at one ranch to look at the elk. We've been by there before and seen them, but this time a few of them had come right up to the fence. So we joined the crowd and stopped to take pictures. Ain't he majestic?

They had other exotic critters there too. Any ideas what this one is. It's about the size of a White Tail.

The elk were amazing to watch, almost really hamming it up for the camera.

One of these days I'd love to have one of those heads over my fireplace, and the hide on my couch. Mmmmm, and them's good eatin' too.

Finally, on the drive East on 29 from Llano to Burnet, we stopped along the road to see some Eagles in a nest along the Llano river. They were far enough away that I could barely make them out with my little camera, but you can clearly see the white head there. Maybe momma is feedin' the kiddies.

Anyway, we got home by about 5PM on Sunday, and then it was the couch for Denise and the computer for me, trying to get as many of these shots done as I could. If you want, you can go to my FlickR site and see more of them. Cheers!